Pokéshipping 2017
by Jysella
Summary: A collection of hopefully 7 stories matching the themes of pokéshipping week 2017. Rating is M due to potentially mature themes.
1. Fishing

A/N: So...Aetheron who usually finds the worst of my errors is still off being an adult so...this may be...rough. Also it seems this year that I decided that actually writing Ash and Misty in stories about them seemed kinda boring...so…oops?

 **Fishing**

* * *

It's just past nine in the morning when Daisy wakes up. She yawns, stretches in the warm mid morning sun, and heaves herself out of her bed. Rubbing her back, she grabs a dressing gown and walks bleary eyed into the hall. And stops.

It's quiet.

Very quiet.

She'd expected, given the late hour, that the gym would be bustling with energy. Full to the brim of young trainers nervously awaiting a battle or mourning one lost. She'd thought she'd have heard the not quite dulcet tones of one of her younger sisters refereeing a match or the steady timbre of her youngest sister calling out another partner with which to battle. But instead...it was quit. Well, as quiet as the gym got anyway. There was the ever present drone of water running through pipes and sitting in echoing pools. And of course, every so often, there was a pokémon call, though never one close enough to be made out.

Rubbing her eyes, Daisy shrugs and continues down to the kitchen. Misty must have closed the gym for the day. She's more than entitled to a day off and with everything that her youngest sister does, Daisy is surprised that the gym isn't closed more often. Still though, it's unlike Misty to close the gym so suddenly and without reason. Normally there are memos and reminders and warnings and holidays and migrations until you can't walk through the gym without knowing when it will be closed and why. On the rare occasions that Misty had closed the gym without notice there had always been a reason, usually a fiend in need or more rarely a sick day. And the night before had been Misty's vid-chat night. Probably-hopefully- someone was in need of some help. Just in case, Daisy pauses outside of Misty's door and waits, listening with held breath for coughing or wheezing or even any breathing that might mean Misty was inside. There is nothing and Daisy nods to herself, sure that Misty has gone off to help a friend.

Pushing the kitchen door open, Daisy reaches for the coffee maker and her thoughts stutter when she finds nothing there. She groans, the sound loud in the silent gym, and reaches instead for a cup of hot chocolate. The coffee maker had disappeared sometime in the last week and none of her sisters would own up to it, though Daisy was positive that Misty had been the culprit. Though the hot chocolate is not as satisfying as coffee would have been, it warms Daisy and wakes her up letting her look around with less bleary eyes. She sighs in relief, the sound once again loud against the near silent of her surroundings, to find Misty's fishing kit missing. Misty's just gone fishing, none of her friends need her help-she'll be back before lunch.

She's not back before lunch. Noon comes and goes without the youngest Waterflower returning to the gym. Daisy wakes up, having fallen asleep on a couch near the arena shortly after making it to the kitchen, to a note from Lily explaing that she and Violet had gone to lunch but that there's soup in the cabinet waiting for her and Misty. Daisy grins and stretches, aching as she hauls herself up. The kitchen is empty, the gym is empty and Misty's kit is still gone. Which, now that she's had more sleep, Daisy has to admit is odd. Misty doesn't typically skip everything to go fishing unless she is unhappy and that never happens after she's spoken to her friends. Something about this whole thing is off. And her other sisters can't even be bothered to help.

"Like, I guess I'll just have to go get her." Daisy sighs. A cacophony of pokémon calls answer her and Daisy is certain that everyone in the gym has chimed in. "Alright you monsters," she chides, heading to the coat closet, "I'm going." The pokémon call back happily in response, or at least Daisy hopes that is their happy, and so she hurries to throw on a light coat and scarf. She's almost out the door when she catches sight of herself in the mirror and grimaces. Though she has left the acting world behind, she's still something of a minor celebrity in Cerulean and it just won't do to go walking about with bed head and bags under her eyes. Grabbing a hat and large sunglasses, she grins at her reflection. It's not great but at least Cerulean might leave her be. The pokémon call behind her and she leaves, locking the gym's door and heading down a path she's walked many times in life.

It's usually only a five minute walk from the gym to Misty's favorite fishing hole but it takes Daisy almost 20 to carefully shuffle down the forest path. It's a brisk day in Cerulean, Daisy shivers, pulling her jacket closer to her body and clings to the sunny patches as she walks. Just as she reaches the top of the hill, overlooking the river, Daisy catches sight of her sister. She's sitting, Misty is, on the river bank-still in the shorts and yellow tank top that she wears until there's snow on the ground-with her fishing rod beside her standing up in the dirt. IN her hands Misty holds something yellow that seems to dangle from a string. She stares at it for a few moments before pulling her legs up and circling her arms around them. She leans her head down on her knees and looks out at the water, the yellow thing still dangling from her hand. Daisy creeps closer, abandoning the sun to slip behind trees on the way.

It's rare that Daisy sees her sister like this. Though Misty is seven years her junior, she's always been the responsible one. The stoic one. The strong one. When their parents had died and Misty had been 5, it had been her who had gotten her sisters named in charge of the gym. It had been her who had gotten them named her own guardian. And it had been her who had run the gym in her sisters' names. Beyond that, Misty rarely let anyone see beyond her tight control. An easy grin for her friends, a fierce smile for challengers; almost every expression was carefully crafted to hide. But this Misty, this Misty staring out at the river with her head on her knees. This Misty didn't know she was there.

"You might as well come out." Misty calls, head turned on her knee so that she's looking right at where Daisy is standing.

Daisy huffs out a laugh and steps out from behind the tree line. "How'd you, like, know I was there?"

"Twigs snapping." Misty replies,grinning up at her sister. "You should really be more careful of where you step."

Daisy grins and looks down at her sister. Playfully she ruffles her hair, and the redhead bats her hands away. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

Misty shrugs, an inelegant gesture that raises her shoulders completely and drops them quickly so that they fall with a sigh. "'Dunno"

"Like, ok." Daisy replies, "is that an "I don't know, I needed a break' or an 'I don't want to talk about it'?"

Misty drops her head to her knees and mumbles into them, sounds that Daisy can;t make out but that she knows spell a longer stay on the river bank.

"The second one then?" Daisy asks. She doesn't wait for a response before she begins the slow process of lowering herself to sit beside her sister. As though she's read her mind, Misty springs up to help Daisy settle. "I'm not an invalid." Daisy groans. "But thank you."

Misty grins, a wry smile that is gone seconds later as she turns back to the river.

"So like….what's going on?" Daisy asks. Misty grunts in response and Daisy huffs out a sigh that she can just barely see in the cooling air. She hadn't expected that to work. She's silent for a few moments, considering other topics or even suggesting that they head back in as quiet conversations are probably better had in warm places when Misty sighs again.

"I talked to my friends last night." Misty says into the relative quiet of the woods.

Daisy nods and, when Misty says nothing further, prompts her with an "...and?"

Misty scrubs her hand over her eyes and takes out her hair, shaking it out as she thinks. "And...do you think this as far as I go?"

Daisy blinks, hard. Of all the things she had been expecting, this question? It is not one of them. "Like, what?" she finally chokes out, Misty watching her with brimming eyes.

"I mean…" Misty starts, trailing off again to look at that yellow thing she;d been holding when Daisy had crept up. Closer now, Daisy can see that it's a lure crudely shaped like a pikachu's head and roughly painted. Daisy is fairly certain it wouldn't hold up in the water and is surprised to see it in Misty's arsenal. Misty had been making lures almost as long as she had been able to color, she's practically a master and her lures are well sought after. This is clearly not her work. Though, Daisy thinks, it could be the work of a certain pikachu training friend of Misty's.

"Is this, like, about Ash?" Daisy asks.

Misty sputters. "No." she spits, clutching the pikachu to her chest.

Daisy raises an eyebrow and waits.

Misty sighs. "Maybe…"

"What does Ash have to do with you, like, going further?" Daisy prods.

"Nothing?" Misty says. "or...I don't know...everything." She shrugs. "I just..I feel like I came back here and then...am I just waiting for my life to begin?"

"And you think that Ash is...like...your life?" Daisy asks, still unsure of the conversation.

"No," Misty groans. "Or...he might be part of it? I don't know."

"Like, ok," Daisy starts, still unsure of the conversation. "Why don't you start with..telling me what happened?"

"Drew proposed."

"Oh," Daisy breaks off, head tilted as she tries to place the name. Finally she gives up. "Which one is he?"

"The grass headed coordinator?" at Daisy's blank look, Misty continues, "The one from Hoenn who's totally in love with May." Misty mumbles.

"And...this makes you unhappy..because...you like him?" Daisy ventures.

Misty grabs a handful of grass to throw at her sister, showering Daisy in green. "No," she scoffs.

"Then…did he not propose to May?"

"No he did and they are disgustingly adorable about it." Misty responds into her knee.

"So you don't like him and….wait...is May that, like, little brunette with the brother?"

Misty nods, hands still pulling at the grass.

"Was she the one that was always getting flowers from her rival?" Another nod. "Anything else?"

Misty shrugs. "And Gary just got married and Tracey is just so excited to be a dad...thanks for telling me by the way."

Dais smiles and gestures at her distended belly, "Misty, if you couldn't, like, tell by now then I think that there is a really awkward talk that we have to have."

Misty laughs and throws yet more grass at Daisy who counters with a handful of clovers that she'd pulled up while Misty was distracted.

Laughing, Misty bumps Daisy shoulders and knocks the older girl nearly over. "I know that, dummy." Misty grins, gesturing to Daisy's belly. "You're kinda hard to miss. I meant about it being a girl."

"Oh that, like, jerk." Daisy fumes. "He wasn't supposed to tell you until I did."

Misty shrugs. "He's just excited."

"Me too." Daisy smiles, "But we were talking about you, little sister."

"I know," Misty mumbles, sinking into herself once more. "I just...look everyone's moving on. Gary is married and MAy is getting married and Tracey is going to be a dad and I'm just….stuck in this will we won't we loop with Ash. Or maybe we're not and I am and…" she blows out a huge breath and it floats ghost like in the cooling day.

Daisy grins, "Is that all? I was worried something big was wrong."

Misty screams into her knees and Daisy hides a laugh in her sleeve.

"Come on, Daisy. I share with you all of this really deep stuff and you make fun of me? Who does that?"

"I'm not making fun of you Misty, it's just….like open up your Pokegear or whatever you're using to talk these days and tell me who your last five calls were or ten or fifteen. They're all Ash and he picks up every time. Misty you two are something and have been since you were ten. But beyond that? Misty you don't need him to...go further. You are more than whatever it is your relationship with him is."

Misty groans again into her knee and Daisy smiles.

"Like, what was that little sis?"

"I know that," Misty groans again, this time facing her sister. "But what if….I just…"

"Everyone does things at their own pace." Daisy replies to her unasked question.

"But…" Misty starts again, only to be cut off by her sister.

"No buts, little sis. You are, like, way to awesome to be stuck on this." Daisy replies, offering a hand up. "Now, help me up. It is, like, way too cold on this ground for a pregnant lady and I could really go for some coffee right now."

"You can't have caffeine." Misty replies, helping Daisy off the ground.

"Ugh," Daisy offers in response, or would if she were not cut off by a strange buzzing. "Mist?"

"It's my Holo Caster." MIsty answers, pulling a red device from around her neck. She pauses in her walk, and presses some buttons on the surface before grinning. "I can..answer it later."

"Is it, like, your little boyfriend?" Daisy asks, reaching to grab it.

"No," Mist responds, pulling it out of reach and accidentally hitting one of the buttons. She can only watch in growing horror as Ash's image projects from the little screen until he stands in front of Misty and Daisy in a grainy blue hologram. The hologram smiles and scratches its head. Daisy grins.

"Hey Mist," the holographic Ash says, Pikachu jumping into the frame to join.

"Hey Pallet town," Misty replies, staring wide eyed at the image before her. "We were talking...last night...what's the call for?"

"I don't know," Ash responds and Daisy can't help but smack her head. "I just...wanted to talk to you? Is that alright?"

"Of course it's all right." Misty replies, "It's just...I'm with my sister…"

"Oh don't you two mind me" Daisy responds. "I am like, totally tired." She reaches an arm around Misty to give her a hug and then pushes away. "I'm going to head back to the gym and take a nap. I'll, like, see you later little sis." And Daisy walks away, dreaming of finding the coffee maker or at the very least some hot chocolate.


	2. Ah, well, back to my wife

A/N: So..I was really excited to write this one...like amazingly excited and then the words just wouldn't work. So...I have two stories here. The first one is the one that I am happier with but it is the one I wrote second. The second story is the one I wrote first and is closer to my original idea but just...doesn't work...still, I included both because the way I do this week is that I write it on the day and it is as much a record of what I can write in a week as a series of stories...so enjoy?

* * *

Agony

He's not jealous of them, Brock thinks as he lies on a couch in the lobby of the Celestic Town pokecenter. At least not really. He yawns. It's late in Sinnoh. Really late. Ash has a gym battle in the morning. He yawns and glances at his watch, grimacing at the time. He should really stop them. Ash could use a few hours of sleep and with the time difference, Misty has probably skipped out on a few of her own. But then...they never really have gotten the timing right.

He yawns again, stretching on the couch as he tries to decide if it is worth interrupting them. They won't listen of course; they've always been much too caught up in their own world to pay much attention to those outside it. It's almost as if they exist in two realities AshandMisty world and everything else.

Brock yawns again and stands up, right! With that thought he knows it's time to at least try and get some sleep. Quickly as he can manage, he stretches out aching joints and sore muscles, tired from the near two hours waiting for their phone call to end, and limps over to the vidphone bank.

"Ash," He starts before he's in view of the younger trainer, but Pikachu rushes to him and shushes him with a quiet _ka_. Brock squints towards the phones and is surprised to find Misty with red eyes like she's crying. "What's wrong with-" he starts again, only to be cut off with an annoyed, if quiet, _chuu_.

Brock shrugs and cocks his head, one ear turned towards the conversation. He can't hear much, only Ash whispering quietly to Misty in the calm even tones he uses when they find a wild pokémon that is not thrilled to see them. Pikachu smacks him with his tail and Brock groans, cutting himself off mid sound. Hands up in a gesture that Pikachu understands as surrender, Brock makes his way back to the couch and plops on it.

He's really not jealous of them but it is….ridiculous how they manage to stay in such close touch despite the insanity of their schedules and the regions in which they live. Mew, the last time he'd been apart from them they'd only been a few islands away and he hadn't gotten weekly calls. Then again though, their relationship is different, though they refuse to define it. And that really, really, is the worst part of it all.

Not the fact, of course, that they refuse to admit it-though that is infuriating. No, the part that is truly unfair is that they've had this...whatever it is that they have, since he's known. Six years now and it seems so...easy. But Brock's tried...really tried and it's not as easy as it seems. It's silly that he thought it would be but…

He's not jealous of them…

There's this show that his sisters like to watch, a continuation of some teenage rom com that was on when he was a kid and there's this character on it who...he grew up with two other friends who had been together since they were in seventh grade and as an adult he looks back at it one day and just...let's go about how messed up it has made him. And Brock feels like that. Like his ideas of what relationships are and how they come to be are so wrong because he grew up with...them.

There are footsteps behind him and so Brock looks up from the couch, meeting Ash's eyes in the dimming lights of the center. Nurse Joy is turning them off, the vid phone finally quiet, and shooing stragglers to rooms and beds.

"Hey man," Ash starts, resettling his hat on his head. "Thanks for waiting." He looks tired and worn, like he's lost a battle he;d been struggling with for a while.

"No problem, you Ok?" Brock asks.

"Yeah," Ash says in response, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Mist says hi." A soft smile crossing his face when he says her name.

And it's there too. That unfair ease that they have always had. Just her name makes him smile. Brock can't even think the name of, he shakes his head clearing the name from his memory. "You could'a grabbed me. I'd have liked to say hi."

Ash shrugs, scratching his nose. "She was having a rough night. I didn't want to bother you."

"Everything alright?"

Ash nods, "It's worked out. Something about one of her sisters and a fight."

"She talks to you about fights with her sisters?" Brock asks.

Ash nods like it's not a big deal, and for him it isn't. They share everything. It's ridiculous really, the only real relationships Brock's seen are his parents-a not so fantastic model to follow-and them. How could he ever have made it work with...her...or anyone else? "So, bed?" Ash finishes, yawning as he speaks.

Brock nods and follows him to the elevator, lost in thought. He really is that character, from that show his sisters watch. He has no hope. Though maybe he's just not ready for a relationship like theirs. Maybe he only thinks he wants to be the next Ash and Misty when only they can be that and he'll have to be...something else.

But he's not jealous of them.

Not really.

* * *

Misery

They're ten to his fifteen when he meets them first. And young. Very young. They're brash and loud and can't seem to have even the simplest of conversations end in anything but an unending repetition of did not/did too. And yet.

Yet.

They also get so caught up in each other that it's like nothing else exists. Like Brock, though two feet away, is stranded in the real world while they soldier through an entirely different space.

It'd be adorable if he wasn't stuck with it daily.

Oh sure, in the cities it's wonderful. They occupy each other and leave Brock mostly to his own devices and there is no end to trouble that a fifteen year old out on his own can get into.

But in the forests?

When it is just the three of them and Pikachu?

They still live in their own world. And it…it can get a little lonely.

And...it's entirely unfair that this girl, this one girl that they're with is so focused on Ash of all people. Not that there's anything wrong with Ash; no, Brock loves him like a brother. But like any brother he also knows the younger boy's weaknesses and…

He's no stranger to jealousy, Brock isn't. Growing up the oldest of as many siblings as he'd had, Brock is used to..well...giving things up.

No, of course he doesn't need a party this year, the little kids won't understand that they can't pay but Brock does. No, Brock doesn't want the last candy; obviously it should be saved for the younger kids. Absolutely not, Brock doesn't need souvenir from the trip, he'll remember it. And it's not that he doesn't love his siblings, because he does. He wouldn't have literally stopped his life at thirteen to care for all of them if he hadn't. And it's not that he really wants those things that he'd had to...go without. He was old enough. He did understand. It's just that...well...he knew what jealousy felt like. That stabbing, twisting, cold knife in the gut that you want to ignore but is just...just...something you ulive with and swallow past and ignore.

It's a feeling he knows.

And he knows, he does, that the cold twisting in his stomach when he looks at Ash and Misty while they scream about only Arceus knows what; he knows that feeling is jealousy. Because it's so easy for them. So unfairly easy. And when he meets professor Ivy, 300 rejections and three years later….he thinks that it might just be that easy.

~a~

For Tracey, meeting Ash and Misty is a wake-up slap. They are loud and argumentative and incredibly insensitive towards one another but mew save anyone else who picks on either of them within earshot of the other. And its always within earshot of the other because they are never further than earshot from one another.

It is maddening.

It may be, maybe, that he's just….that much older than them. He is, afterall, seven years their senior. Maybe this is just how kids-no, sorry, teens-talk to each other these days.

But...it's not that...it's...different...

He doesn't notice at first, he's too distracted trying to reconcile the two screaming teens with the compassionate trainers he knows. It's a trick room with no escape and he's never before….seen that, or heard it. He's an only child with doting parents who grew up in the Orange Islands-its a veritable paradise and sure there are some less than awesome people here but almost everyone he's met is friendly and easygoing. Except them. They are not easy going but somehow, somehow, these two…teenagers? They Professor Oak and if he travels with them...he'll get to meet them. It's an easy choice, they clearly need the help and he...he would love to meet Professor Oak.

That first night though...when he's making dinner and trying to get a word out of Misty who is ignoring him in favor of berating Ash...that's when he goes spinning. He can't get her attention. No matter what he does or what he says, she's only just barely acknowledging him. And that's how he knows it's different. His gut wrenches; these two are in their own world and he will never be a part of it.

It's a tricky though to manage at first when it strikes him with a sudden clarity over stew. He's never quite...been jealous like that of people. He'd of course ben jealous of Ash and Misty when he'd learned that they knew Professor Oak but it was...a different feeling. A pang compared to stabbing.

He watches them after that, he's a watcher after all. And what he sees is…they're young. He'd known that when he'd started traveling with them. But...they are almost purposefully ignoring what everyone else knows the second they meet them. It would be funny if it didn't make Tracey so...uncomfortable.

They're both much too young for him so it's not an envy of their...claim? On one another. It's more...that they have each other and he has...a sketchbook (and a handful of wonderful pokémon and a loving family and fantastic friends).

~a~

A year and a half without them does nothing to dull that knife in the gut twist that comes back the first time they argue in front of him. It's like nothing has changed. They're fifteen, or near it, and still argue like children. But Brock...Brock is not a child any longer. He's nineteen and looking at twenty and things with Professor….things on Valencia Island had not been easy. He talks to Misty at night and Ash during the day and its still the same. Neither of them want to admit it or even seem to know. And Brock is jealous all over again. They haven't had the…

They're not…

He can't quite put it in words. But somehow...it's still easy between them. Like nothing has changed. Except...he doesn't call her names any more and she doesn't mention The Bike and when their hands bump as they walk beside one another, they'll sometimes just grab hold even if there isn't a convenient threatening excuse (though there usually is). And it's just not fair that they have that. Not fair that any time someone flirts with Misty, Ash gets to pitch a fit and Misty doesn't pinch his ear. Not fair that Ash doesn't ever speak to anyone other than Misty in the same tone he uses with his pokémon. Not fair that they can fight and scream and still back one another up five years later and Brock can't even get a call back.


	3. Staying with Rudy

A/n: So three things: 1) I am super happy with this story; 2) I have noticed a few words that seem to crop up whenever I write about the orange Islands, I blame this on Lilo and Stitch; 3) my next two chapters will probably be late due to migraines and the fact that pokéshipping week always falls during a 24 hour event that my workplace holds. Woo adulthood.

 **Staying with Rudy**

* * *

He finds her on the beach, sitting in the sand with the surf just about reaching toes but never quite running over them, even in the biggest waves. Her arms are around her legs and her bag is beside her, Togepi asleep atop the bright red slash in the otherwise empty sand. Her shoes are off, just behind her and out of reach as she stares out at the darkening ocean. He's not surprised to find her there, it's where Brock said she'd be. But he doesn't know why she's sitting here in the sand and staring out at the water when there's a center and good food near by. And beds.

Ash would love to be asleep right now. It had been a tiring day full of water rescues and friends vanishing beneath waves and pokémon challenges. And he knows tomorrow holds more but Misty hadn't come back after dinner and that is just strange. She always comes back even though she'll occasionally skip the meal. Ash hadn't been worried at first; the gym leader had invited Misty to eat with him and surely he had something cool to show her. Ash had even been kind of jealous of her invitation. He wanted to see the gym leaders pokémon and strategies. But then dinner had been over and done for hours and Misty had still been missing.

Ash had asked Tracey if he should be worried but the pokémon watcher had only shrugged,claiming that Ash knew her better. And he did, they'd spent nearly every day together for over three years. They were friends or maybe even more than that. Best friends? But the word wasn't quite right. Misty would know what to call them. But she still wasn't back. He'd tried asking Pikachu what he and Misty were, but the electric mouse had only laughed at him and then demanded ketchup.

Ash made it another hour before he called Brock,, though it wasn't his idea. Tracey had finally gotten frustrated with his pacing and suggested that Ash call his "other friend, you know the one who stayed on Valencia?" Tracey didn't know Brock very well either. The two older boys had only spoken once or twice when Ash and Misty had gotten into such an argument that they needed someone from the outside to set them to right again. Ash hadn't been sure that he should call Brock. He had to be busy working with Professor Ivy and anyway, he thought he should look for Misty on his own because maybe that Rudy guy had done something to her.

It had been Brock who told Ash where to find her. And Brock who told him that he had to find her and talk. _Really_ talk. Ash had sighed and looked away from the screen but somehow he had known what Brock had meant. He had blushed, redder than a charmeleon, and turned off the screen. But he had gone looking for her, first running and then walking alone along the shore, Pikachu staying with Tracey up at the center. Half an hour after he starts his walk, he finds her and freezes.

"Talk to her," Brock had said, " _really_ talk to her." It had been so meaningful at the time but now he doesn't know what the older boy had meant. Still he's there and so is Misty so he may as well say something. But what?

"Hey Pallet-town." Misty says, saving him from starting the conversation. Her voice sound kind of stuffy, like that time they'd walked through the meadow and she hadn;t been able to stop sneezing. She moves quickly, a hand shooting up to her face to wipe her eyes with a fist and suddenly Ash is desperate to see her face. "What brings you out here?"

Ash walks around her so that his back is to the ocean and he can see her face. She surprised that he's done that, he can tell because her eyes widen for a moment before she ducks her head. But in that moment, he can see that her eyes are red and puffy like his mothers had been the last time Ash had seen his dad.

"Mist, are you Ok?" Ash asks, completely missing whatever it is that Misty had said. He reaches out and lifts her face and is unsure when it was exactly that he'd gotten on his knees in front of her.

Misty nods. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Ash wipes another tear from her face. "I may not know girls that well, but I don't think that they cry when everything is OK."

Misty blinks slowly, a long moment with her eyes closed and her dark lashes bright against a red face and then she smiles. "How'd you find me?"

"Brock told me where you were."

Misty nods again and takes a deep breath. "OK," she replies and then she's standing. "Run in the water with me?"

"But we'll get wet."

"That's kinda the point, Mr. Pokémon Master." Misty giggles, sticking out a hand.

Ash grins and reaches a hand up, letting Misty pull him to his feet. Without letting go of his hand, she runs towards the water dragging Ash along. The water's cold, chilled in the growing dusk and they barely make it into their legs before Misty is shrieking and running back to sit on the sand. Ash stares after her as she collapses back down until he's knocked over by a wave he doesn't see and pulls himself back to the beach, body covered in dry sand like breading on a cutlet.

Misty pokes him when he finally makes it back and the sand flakes off under her finger. Ash bats her hand away.

"So really, are you alright?" he asks again, brushing itchy sand from his face.

Misty shakes her head, eyes glossy once more. "Not really."

"Is it…" Ash starts, but whatever it is he is going to suggest is lost as Misty very quietly cut shim off.

"Should I stay?" She asks, looking away from Ash.

Ash blinks, sand falling from his lashes as they move, and cocks his head trying ti dislodge water from his ear. "What do you mean?"

"Rudy, he asked me to stay." Misty replies, settling back down facing the ocean with her arms around her legs. She seems so small on the huge beach and Ash almost wants to hug her. But they don't really do that and besides he's covered in sand.

"Why would you stay?" Ash asks, settling himself beside her.

She breathes out slowly, arm brushing against his as she does. "Because there is so much I can learn here. Did you know his starmie can use thunder?" She shakes her head in disbelief. "A water pokémon using an electric attack, it's...who does that?"

"Really?"

Misty turns towards Ash, quick attack fast. "Mew damn it, I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

Ash shrugs, "little late for that."

"Ash, please." Misty pleads, "forget I said anything?"

Ash looks up, eyes wondering the dim sky as he pretends to consider it. "Well…"

But Misty knows him too well, she knocks his shoulder with her own with a grin. "Jerk."

"Scrawny," Ash responds, smiling himself. "But….is it just because he's a good trainer?"

"He's not just a good trainer, Ash, he's amazing."

"And I'm not?" Ash can feel tears pricking his own eyes, though he's not sure why. Misty hasn't said anything mean and he's not hurt.

Misty scoffs, "It's not about you, Ash. For once, once in this stupid journey this is about me."

"What do you mean 'stupid journey'?" Ash asks. Misty takes a deep breath and and squares her shoulders and Ash cringes. He knows this move, this breath, It's the second before a fight, and he doesn't want to fight. Not yet at least. He holds up a hand, "What do you mean for once?"

Misty stops mid breath and Ash can almost see her pulling the words back into her mouth as she tries to answer his question. "I mean…" she trails off and pulls her hands out from her legs. "I mean," she starts again, hands in front of her. She breathes in, deeply. "I mean that everything we do is about you. There have been a few times that we've stopped to do something for me or Brock or Tracey but this whole…"she trails off again and opens her hands from fists, mouth set in a line. "Thing has been about you and your dreams and it's never about my dreams or Brock's or...Tracey's. I guess."

"What do you mean, we've done so many things for you."

"Oh really?" Misty replies in a tone that Ash knows means trouble. "Name one."

Ash grins. "Princess day."

Misty nods. "Knew you'd get that one. Name another, Ketchum. I dare you."

Ash thinks, he really does. He thinks and picks through days until his head hurts but nothing else comes to mind. In more than three years the only thing they've done for Misty has been a day. A single day. It's probably the same for Brock. But he…"You can leave."

"I know." Misty replies, "that's why I'm asking if I should stay."

"Well...why wouldn't you?" Ash responds. It's weird that his heart beats harder as he asks it and his stomach twists with the words. He hopes...well...he's not sure. Maybe he hopes that there's a million reasons not to stay and only the one reason to. Maybe.

"My bike?" Misty questions. "Though you could always send the money here...or to Cerulean." She pauses again, tongue darting out to lick her lips as she thinks.

Ash swallows hard. "What about me?"

"Ash it can't just be about you." Misty says again, tiredly.

Ash shakes his head. "No," he says, heart beating hard. "I mean, what about me and you?"

"What me and you?" Misty whispers, turning to face him.

"I mean...wouldn't you miss me?"

"Of course I would, Ash. But I miss my sisters too and I'm not heading back to Cerulean until I have to."

"But, you'd miss me differently than your sisters, right?" Ash, forcing the words out even though his face feels like it was hit with a flamethrower.

"I guess," Misty says, biting her lip. "I mean...you're my…"

"Your what?"

They stare at one another for a moment as the last of the light fades. Misty throws her arms up in frustration when the first of the stars wink in. "I don't know Ash, what are we?"

"Friends?"

MIsty takes a deep breath at the word, "OK," she says and smiles, "friends. Well...we're friends with Brock and we still talk to him even though we're not traveling with him anymore. We can still talk."

"Maybe," Ash says, carefully, "Friends is wrong. Best Friends?"

Misty's smile falters. "Yeah, like you and Pikachu."

Ash shakes his head, the word still wrong. "No...we're...different then that."

Misty blinks. "Right, less important. I am, afterall, just here until I get a new bike." she gins again, but the words are empty.

Ash bumps her shoulder with his own. "No," he says and Misty starts at his words. "Don't say that. It hasn't been about the bike forever."

"Oh really?" Misty asks.

"Really. Mist, I wouldn't have gotten here without you, I wouldn't have gotten past the League without you. We're...we're partners." Ash says, nodding to himself. "Yeah..partners." He smiles. That's the right word, it's what they are. Partners. And Partners stick together.

"Partners?" She asks, grinning so widely the her face looks like it will split. "Just what does that mean then, partner?"

"Well," Ash starts. "Partners stick together, no matter what."

Misty frowns. "So...I can't stay because we're partners and have to stick together?"

"No," Ash replies. "It means that maybe we stay because we do a lot for me and partners are equal."

Misty blinks and rocks back, resting her hands on the sand so that she can watch Ash as she speaks. "Really? We'll stay? Even though it might be a while?"

Ash nods. "

What about the GS ball?"

Ash shrugs. "Tracey can take it if he needs to."

"What about the Orange Crew?"

Ash shrugs again. "I guess...I...stop for a while? I mean if you can learn a lot from Rudy, then I probably can too…"

"Really? You'll just...take a pause...for me? And we stay? Together?"

Ash nods but whatever he is going to say next is cut off by Misty tackling him in a hug.


	4. Lost Together

A/n: sorry it's late, hopefully today's challenge will be up later as well. Also, there's a longer note below.

 **Lost Together**

* * *

~10~

"We're lost," Misty shouts. Brock swallows hard and begins digging in his bag for the earplugs he had picked up on their way through Cerulean City . He hasn't known Ash and Misty very long but it hadn't taken more than a night to learn how loud their fights can get. He finally finds the plugs in his bag when Ash drops the map from his face.

"We are not." Ash retorts. Pikachu smacks his own face with his palm.

Misty takes a deep breath and puts her hands on her hips, stepping her feet out so that they are shoulder width apart. She takes a deep and leans forward. Brock cringes, dropping the ear plugs as he does.

"Are too." She replies and Pikachu scrambles from Ash's shoulder, grabbing the earplugs before Brock can get to them.

"Are not." Ash shouts back, taking a step towards Misty.

"Are too." She stands her ground, leaning forwards slightly so that she almost looms over Ash despite having only an inch on him. Pikachu tosses the earplugs into the woods and Brock swears the electric rodent smirks at him. Brock scowls back.

"Are not." Ash screams once more, close enough now to Misty that he can't move any further.

"Are too," Misty supplies, voice reaching tones that Brock is unsure even growlithe can hear.

"We're not lost, right Brock?." Ash asks, appealing to the older trainer for help.

"We're not lost, Misty." Brock sighs. "We're just...temporarily misplaced."

"Yeah," Ash adds, grinning smugly.

Misty sighs and turns her full scowl on Brock. "Really?" she says, her tone dark.

Brock shrugs, shrinking back at her voice as electricity arcs through Pikachu's fur. Pikachu growls, but Misty ignores him in favor of crossing her arms and glaring at Brock.

"I expect this from that slowpoke." Misty points her thumb towards Ash aggressively on the word and crosses her arms before continuing. "But you know better. And it's just mean picking on him when he doesn't understand."

"I'm not the slowpoke, Misty," Ash responds in a mocking tone. " Brock just said that we're not lost." He grins triumphantly, "we're just temp...tempor...we're..misplaced." He nods, pleased with himself for recalling at least some of the words.

Misty shoots one last disgusted look at Brock, raising both hands as if to say 'see, see what you did' before she rounds on Ash once more.

"OK, Ketchum," She says, "do you even know what 'temporarily misplaced" means?"

Ash shakes his head. "No."

"It means," Misty says sweetly, taking a step closer to Ash. Brock is almost certain that, with as close as she is standing,Misty could count Ash's eyelashes if she wanted to. "We're lost." She shouts, words louds enough that Ash steps back.

Blinking, Ash wipes a hands across his face and shakes it off in the dirt. "Say it, don't spray it."

"Grow up," Misty replies. "And show me the map. I'll get us out here."

Ash scoffs but holds the map up, "see we're not lost," he says, pointing at seemingly random to a spot on the paper. "We're here."

Brock groans, Ash is holding the map upside down and from the way Misty's face is getting red, he's sure that she's spotted it as well.

"Ash," Misty says calmly. "Did you happen to notice that you were holding the map," she takes a deep breath and Brock cringes once more, placing fingers in his ears to block out an extremely loud "upside down."

"I am not." Ash says defiantly.

"Then what does it say at the bottom of the map?" Misty asks.

Ash shrugs. "I can't read that, it's printed upside...down...oh."

"Slowpoke." Misty groans as Ash flips the map, studying it intensely.

"Ok," he says after a moment. "This is where we are." He points at the map again and Brock can't help himself. He leans forward and then groans.

"Ash," Misty says, smiling.

"Yes, Misty." Ash replies.

"You pointed at Pallet Town. Tell me, Ash. Does it look like we're in Pallet Town?" Ash shakes his head and Misty grins. "Then we're lost."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

Pikachu sparks up and offers a low _kaa_ in warning but neither Ash nor Misty notice, their argument continuing until Pikachu shocks them both and Brock begins setting up camp.

~15~

Misty sighs and smacks her head on the desk in front of the vid screen, frustrated as her conversation has once again dissolved into static. She's back at the gym, by herself as her sisters explore the world on some fancy cruise or another. And it's not fair, she wants to be out and exploring too. And learning. She would love to be out learning. She's never going to be able to be a water pokémon master if she doesn't learn about the new pokémon that are being discovered every day.

At least she still has Ash. As much as she wouldn't have admitted to it even a year ago, Ash has definitely been one of the few bright spots in this whole ordeal. Every week he finds time to talk to her and tell her all about the fantastic new things he's seeing. Or at least he tries to. Hoenn is so much more rural than Kanto had ever been and it's hard to call between the two regions. Really hard. It's not a single call between them that the signal doesn't get lost at some point, words fading to static until Misty hangs up and waits, hoping that they can reconnect. Not even new and better communication tools help: PokéNav's are no match for the huge distance between Kanto and Hoenn.

And then there's the time difference. Misty has been up so many late nights fighting with her connection in the hopes of gleaning just another few minutes of conversation that some days she's not even sure she can open the gym. And it can't be better for Ash. His mornings, when he's at a Pokémon Center, start so early that she's seen him fall asleep more times on the vid screen than she had when they'd been traveling together. Between the two of them, they have to have lost at least two months of sleep. Maybe more.

The phone rings again and Misty grins. It has to be Ash calling back, no one else would call at this time. She sits up, smoothes her hair and presses the button to answer the phone. Immediately the vid screen fills with the dim light and dull sounds of a Pokémon Center in the very early morning. Slowly, an exhausted Ash resolves in the middle of the frame.

"Mist," Ash says, voice crackling in the ever present static.

"Hey, Ash." Misty replies.

"I don't have much time," Ash sighs, frowning.

Misty nods, he never does. They never do. Already midnight is starting to creep in through the gym which means he has to leave soon to begin a day that she's sure will end in another gym victory. They'd lost probably the entire weeks conversation to the storm front that had scrambled the signals between the two regions. Misty sighs. "I miss you," she says, putting her hand up to the screen so that it's flat against it.

"I miss you too," Ash replies, placing his hand to the screen so that it lays over hers just as everything dissolves into static. He hits his head on the desk in the center as soon as the screen goes black.

He's...frustrated. Very frustrated. It's not fair that Misty has to stay at the gym while he's out getting to battle and grow. He's going to be a pokémon master but it won't be fun if Misty doesn't get to be a water pokémon master beside him.

He groans, the sound loud enough in the slowly awakening center that Nurse Joy comes over to make sure that he's alright.

He's not and he's not sure how to fix it.

~20~

Ash sighs and slumps against the wall of the locker room. He's by himself, truly by himself for the first time in years. All of his pokémon, Pikachu included, are at the center being healed. He takes a deep breath, and rubs his eyes with shaking hands.

He's done it, he's actually done it.

He's a pokémon master.

He laughs, quietly at first but he can't stop and the sound grows until it echoes around the empty locker room.

A master.

Him.

Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town.

A pokémon master at-

"Have you finally lost it, Ash?" A familiar voice cuts in, breaking him from his thoughts.

Ash looks up and is unsurprised when his eyes meet bright blue ones framed by drenched, orange hair.

"Ugh," Ash says, grinning, "I would have thought that there would be more security at the League headquarters."

"Oh there is," Misty says simply, sitting on a bench across from him.

"Then how did you get in here. I thought this locker room was only for masters."

"It is," Misty says solemnly.

"So what, did you flash a guard or something?" Ash asks, smirking.

Misty scoffs and throws her towel at him. It's as wet as her hair.

"Hey."

"You deserved that Mr. pokémon master."

"Call me that again." Ash grins.

"Call you what again?" Misty asks, blinking her eyes in feigned innocence.

"A pokémon master."

"What, like it's special?"

"It's true," Ash grins, puffing out his chest. "But really, how did you get in here?"

"You said it yourself, Ketchum." Misty shrugs. "It's a locker room reserved only for masters."

"You won?" Ash asks, standing up.

Misty nods. It had been cruel of the League to schedule their matches for the same time of the same day. Cruel, but a brilliant marketing scheme. The networks had been full of round the clock speculation about fractured friendships and supposed fights behind the scenes. It was, afterall, the first time that such great friends had been competing on the same day. After months of their pictures being on every single newspaper, magazine and pokéblog and endless requests for interviews discussing only which of their friends were attending which match, Misty had had enough. She demanded as her right as a gym leader, a private exhibition. The results wouldn't even be made public for another day. She had told him first.

Ash runs over and hugs her, picking her feet off the ground so that he can spin the two of them around until the locker room is a blur of grey lockers and white walls.

"Ash," Misty laughs, "put me down, I'm going to puke."

Ash puts her feet on the floor, laughing and Misty can't help but join until both of them are laughing so hard that they're doubled over on the floor taking deep gulping breaths to stop and laughing again any time they meet each other's eyes.

"So," Misty says, once they've finally caught their breath. "Now what?"

Ash's brain stutters to a stop, grin frozen on his face. He doesn't know. Glancing at Misty, from the corner of his eye, he's pretty sure that she doesn't know either.

~25~

Misty is pretty sure that she is at least a little tipsy. She's at some League event or another, listening with feigned interest as some donor drones on about the shocking number of young women who have been declared masters when she sees him; Ash Ketchum, the League's reigning master. They'd lost touch in the years since they'd earned their titles, the requirements of their positions pulling them in entirely different directions so that it was really only at events like this that they managed to see one another.

Twisting her face into what she hopes is a pleasant smile, Misty excuses herself from the donor and walks towards Ash.

"Hey, Pallet Town," she calls.

Ash immediately whirls around. "Don't call me…" he starts in annoyed tone, only to stop, eyes widened in surprise. "Mist?"

"In the flesh." Misty grins, before raising an eyebrow, "who else calls you Pallet Town?"

Ash blushes, a light red that starts in his cheeks and spreads to his ears. "I only let you call me that." He says.

Misty shakes her head, smiling widely. "That's not what I asked."

"Girl I was seeing tried to call me that." He replies, eyes looking anywhere but Misty's.

"Girl you _were_ seeing?" Misty whistles. "Sounds like there's a story there."

"Not really," Ash sings back. "She cheated on me and we broke up. What about you and..uh…"

"Taylor?" Misty supplies.

Ash nods. "Yeah, her."

Misty shrugs, "Buy me a drink and I'll tell you all about how that went up in literal flames."

An hour and 10 drinks between them and they are drunk, leaning against one another in a dark corner of the party and laughing.

"She lit what on fire?" Ash asks, stealing another sip out of Misty's cup.

Misty hands the glass over, not a fan of the sweet rum based drink that Ash had ordered. "The set of the 'Prince and the Mermaid' an hour before we had to put it on for the Vermillion elementary school."

"What?" Ash laughs, spilling half the drink down his shirt.

Misty clucks her tongue against her teeth and reaches for a napkin. " The whole set, poof," she says, dabbing at his shirt. "Up in smoke. I kicked her out then and made up some intro about an imaginary world. The teachers loved it, I'm never building a set again. Now hold still."

"I can't, you're tickling me." Ash replies, grabbing her hand. He knocks her off balance when he grabs her and she falls into him; a puddle of laughing limbs and messy hair. She sits up, grinning and Ash swallows hard. She's close enough that he can count the freckles that she'd tried so hard to hide under a layer of whatever it was that girls wore on their faces. He leans forward and before he knows it, he's kissing her.

It's quiet between them for minutes, a record in their lives until Misty has to pull back and breathe, lack of air clawing at her like a flamethrower in her lungs. She rocks back, eyes wide and touches her lips with her hand.

"What?" She asks.

Ash blinks, horror dawning as he realizes what's just happened. "I don't." he replies.

Misty nods. "So?" she asks quietly, eyes locked on the carpet.

Ash shakes his head. "No," he answers her unasked question. He doesn't regret it.

"We shouldn't, you've got..."

"We're done." Ash replies, reaching forward to lift her face up, to meet her eyes. "What about?"

"Flames, remember." Misty answers.

"So?" He whispers, leaning forward.

"Yes." Misty replies, the end of her word swallowed by Ash kissing her again. He has no idea what they are and where they're going, but he can't wait to figure it out with her.

~?~

* * *

A/n: So I wanted to tell the story of these two dorks growing up together and I think I got there? I had this idea that lost means so many different things over our lives and could mean different things to Ash and Misty so I wanted to show how they would get lost at 10 and then lose communication like so many of us do when starting college and then how lost I felt when I graduated and somehow between the time that I threw my cap up and caught it, I had been loaded with student debt, reminded that I had no job and had no idea what I was going to do and then at the end I wanted to show that confusion and loss of place that can happen when things shift in your personal life.


	5. A Pain from Non-existing Memories

A/n: it's...umm...look, I was not into this theme and I haven't seen the movie and so I watched a bunch of reviews and then..this?

 **A Pain from Non-existing Memories**

* * *

Ash Ketchum is ten years old when everything goes sideways. He's so excited to be ten and to finally, finally, get a chance to go on his own pokémon journey. He can hardly sleep the night before and spends half the night chatting to his mother about the pokémon he's going to chose. He changes his mind four times before his mother finally tells him that he has to get some sleep if he thinks that he's going to leave in the morning. And then he wakes up late, extraordinarily late, and runs out of his house to the lab. When the professor greets him, he's still in his pajamas without even any shoes and all of the pokémon are already chosen. All of them that is except for a pikachu who refuses to enter his pokeball and hates him for some reason.

But all of this, all of this, feels right. It falls on his shoulders with all of the comfort of a well-worn shirt that moves and stretches with him easily.

Then...then he meets the spearow. There are thousands of them, angry and swirling and PIkachu won't help. So they run. There's a river and Ash jumps into it because he knows that there's someone on the other side. Someone with orange hair and a bike and a way to a pokémon center and healing.

She's not there. Whoever he's thought his orange haired savior might have been, he never discovers. He's on his own and suddenly, his life doesn't feel so right anymore. It's more like a new shirt, stiff and any time he moves wrong it's itchy in weird ways.

But he'll get used to it.

It's probably just the stress of traveling.

[It's not.]

He wakes up sometimes with her name on his lips. He doesn't know who she is, but in his dreams she's always there. He thinks that they argue, a lot, but when he wakes up, he always feels like he's lost her. Like she's gone the same way her name evaporates from his mind when the morning dawns.

He asks Sorrel about her one day but the aspiring pokémon professor has no answer to his questions. Briefly, Ash remembers another trainer, older, who would have sat down with him and tried to listen. But Ash shakes his head and grins back Sorrel, agreeing that it must just be a dream. A weird dream. One he can't get out of his head. His smile falters when Sorrel turns and Pikachu quirks an ear towards him, but Ash forces a smile back and pats Pikachu's head.

Because it's fine.

He's fine.

[He's not fine.]

Verity is perfect. She's so fun and wonderful and full of energy and she loves pokémon. He has fun with her, they can talk for hours about strategy and everything else. But sometimes, when he's tired, he looks up expecting to see orange and yellow and finds only blue and brown. And once, when they're arguing and Sorrel has walked off, taking a break from their fight, he thinks he should apologize about a bike that doesn't exist.

He doesn't.

They get busy, him and Sorrel and Verity. There are pokémon to track down and a Ho-Oh to find. He has a feather that glows a rainbow and a legend to follow. He has to put the feather on a rock, or maybe under it. And then he'll get to meet Ho-Oh. And on the way? His butterfree leaves and his charmander evolves and he's almost too busy to notice something missing.

Or a lot of things.

[There's a lot missing.]

He meets her, briefly-his dream girl-when he's asleep. Or maybe dead. He doesn't remember how he finds her, just that he's standing one moment in front of Marshadow, sure that Pikachu is safe and the next she's there.

"Hey, Ash." She whispers. It's blinding light and deep shadows and still her voice is one he knows and will never forget.

"Do I...know you?"

"Not here." She replies, stepping out from behind a wall of black. She's familiar, this girl, with her orange hair and red bike. It's pristine, shining and perfect and somehow it makes him sad to see it.

"Your bike," he whispers.

And the girl nods. "Yeah, amazing the effect not meeting you has on my possessions."

"What?"

"You destroyed my bike once, you and Pikachu. He wants you back, you know."

"Who does?"

"Pikachu, he's calling for you."

"But what about you?"

"What about me, we never met."

"But...I know you." He says.

"Oh yeah?" The girl says. "Then what's my name?"

Ash doesn't say anything, darkness filling his vision until he opens his eyes to rainbows and Pikachu and Sorrel and Verity.

And a name.

[Misty.]


	6. Hold my Ketchup

A/n: Day six, Pikachu's role in Ash and Misty's Relationship. Somehow this one was really hard to write, despite the fact that Pikachu is a near constant character in my stories. Luckily Aetheron is back and helped me talk through this insanity

 **Hold my Ketchup**

* * *

To say that Brock was not amused would be an understatement. He's furious, livid and more than a little exhausted. It was supposed to be a fun trip, he and Ash and Misty hadn't been able to spend any time together in years between his schedule and Misty's gym and Ash's continual traveling to new and further leagues. Arceus, it was rare enough that Ash was even in Kanto that when Professor Oak had had called Ash to his lab to ask him to retrieve the GS ball from Kurt, Brock and Misty had been there with him visiting for the day.

Of course it had been that day that the trouble had started. It had been a good idea, admittedly, Ash had pointed out that the trip was a short one and that he and Brock and Misty hardly got to see each other any more. Surely Brock could take time off from his studies and Misty could leave the Gym with Daisy for the two weeks the trip would take. Right?

It had taken Brock a week to get the time off for the trip and he had traded so many shifts, most of them graveyard, that he wasn't going to see the sun for a month after he got back. But it was going to be worth it, he was sure of it. Two weeks walking with Ash and Misty sounded like just the break he needed. They were going to camp and stay in centers and eat junk cooked over a fire. He was excited.

He shouldn't have been. They were just barely out of sight of Pallet when the first fight started, a nostalgic argument about the direction to walk that Brock had thought was cute for about three seconds. And then the yelling had started, stopped only by Pikachu shocking them to silence.

It hadn't gotten any better from there. The whole trip was underscored by their screaming arguments and somehow louder refusals to speak with one another. And Pikachu. Every night, Brock could hear Pikachu darting between the two of them with soothing coos and occasional thundershocks. Now that they're finally at a center-though still about three days from Azalea Town-Brock is seriously considering heading back and skipping the rest of the trip. They'd been up half the night fighting. A screaming match this time about something Brock hadn't even been able to follow. They're quiet at breakfast, but neither of them is even acknowledging the other. When Ash walks away for a few moments to retrieve Pikachu from Nurse Joy- he'd gotten tired battling team rocket and rested in the infirmary over the night-Misty unleashes a loud sigh.

"What?" Brock asks, tiredly, dropping his fork into rubbery eggs that he certainly hadn't missed. Maybe it was just a child's memory, but he'd thought the food at centers had been better.

"I don't know what his problem is," Misty replies, pushing her fruit around on her plate. She doesn't seem any more interested in her breakfast than Brock is.

"You don't know what who's problem is?" Ash asks, walking up with Pikachu on his shoulder. PIkachu coos happily to see Misty, though his fur ruffles at his trainers tone. He jumps down on the table, and knocks his head into Misty's hand distractedly.

Brock holds up the ketchup bottle up, shaking it slightly and Pikachu's eyes widen. Excitedly, he dashes across the table to grab the ketchup and Brock grins. At least some things don't change.

"Yours. I don't know what your problem is." Misty replies, placing her napkin on the table and pushing away.

"Oh don't leave on my account." Ash spits back, placing a hand on her shoulder. "At least wait until we all finish our breakfast."

Brock groans and pops the lid on Pikachu's ketchup and hands it over while the argument brews, some things he'd be happy to see change.

Misty glances over the Ash's plate, piled high with everything the center had offered for the morning meal and raises her eyebrows. "Gee, Ash. I don't know if we can wait that long. Brock and I do have to be back at some point."

"Very funny, Mist. I don't eat that much." Ash replies, settling himself back in his seat beside Misty, despite the extra empty seat across the table. Pikachu's ear tips at Ash's words and he looks at Brock, confused. Brock shrugs, he's not sure what this fight is about but he scritches Pikachu's ears in consolation.

"Yeah, sure, your portions are downright minimal. For a swalot."

Ash drops his fork and Brock swears he hears Pikachu sigh and tilt an ear towards his trainer.

"At least," Ash says, glaring at Misty, "I'm not a human trubbish."

Together Brock and Pikachu smack their faces.

"A human trubbish?" Misty asks, standing up from her plate. "Is this about the bike again?"

"Of course it's about the bike. It's always about the bike. It's all you care about." Ash replies, standing up to meet her.

Brock blinks and looks towards Pikachu mouthing _bike_ but Pikachu only shakes his head back at him, ears plastered down by the side of his head in a gesture Brock knows means that he is upset. Or frustrated. When Pikachu squeezes the ketchup bottle next, it's with enough force that it covers his face. Brock reaches over with a napkin to wipe it off and Pikachu gives a mournful looks, sad over the loss of so much ketchup.

"It's not about the bike, Ash." Misty shouts, hands raised and open by her head like she's considering strangling him. "The bike just," She pauses and glances at Brock before taking a deep breath and dropping her hands. "It...really shows some things."

"The bike doesn't mean anything, Misty." Ash shouts back, hands fisted at his side.

"Idiot," Misty sniffs back before walking away from the table.

"Be that way then." Ash calls to her back before pushing away from the table and walking the other direction.

Brock blinks. "What?" he asks aloud.

Pikachu shrugs and pushes his ketchup back towards Brock.

"Oh no thanks, Pikachu." Brock says, getting ready to stand up, "We should probably find them."

Pikachu _chuu_ 's back at him, and pushes him back into his seat

Brock raises his arms in defeat and settles himself in the chair. Convinced that he's going to stay, Pikachu _chaa_ 's at him and noses the ketchup bottle into his hand.

"Do you want me to hold this?" Brock asks.

Pikachu _chaa_ 's again and then bounds off, dashing in the direction Misty had run to. At a table beside Brock, someone coughs and Brock's face grows warm.

Ignoring the room around him, though his face feels on fire, Brock picks at his eggs and wonders when his life had come down obeying partially understood orders from his friends' pokémon. Though, Brock supposes, he'd spent most of his life listening to that particular pokémon. Still, when fifteen minutes pass and Pikachu hasn;t come back, Brock is seriously considering leaving.

He stands up, places the ketchup on the table and begins to walk away only to be tripped by a yellow blur darting through the room in the direction Ash had stalked. PIkachu stops, just past the door and _kaa_ 's angrily until Brock sits back down. Satisfied, pikachu nods and runs on.

Groaning, Brock pushes his eggs for twelfth lap around his plate and is so absorbed in his task that he doesn't notice Misty slip quietly back in until she's sat down and whispered a sheepish greeting.

"You're back." Brock observes after a few moments of staring at one another. Misty nods and pushes her food around her plate. Listlessly she spears a rapidly dehydrating winter melon and brings it to her mouth. She looks tired, Brock notices, and her eyes are red rimmed like she's been crying. "Are you OK?"

Misty nods. "I think so," she wavers.

Brock raises an eyebrow at her and watery grin breaks through her chapped lips.

"I thought that was my move," she whispers, putting her fork down with the melon still speared on its tines.

Brock shrugs, "I learned from the best? But, seriously, are you OK?"

"I don't know." Misty whines back. "He's really mad at me."

"I don't blame him."

Misty opens her mouth, surprised at Brocks words. They stare at each other in silence for a few moments until there is a loud yell from the direction Ash had run. The lights flicker.

"Poor, Ash" Brock says when the lights flicker again.

Misty raises an eyebrow. "Poor, Ash? What, you agree with what he did?." She stands up, hands pounded on the table. "You're on his side?"

Brock blinks. "What?"

"You think he has a right to be mad at me? After what he did?"

"Hold on." Brock says, he holds his hands out in front of him like he's trying to calm a spooked pokémon. "I thought we were talking about Pikachu being mad."

Misty sighs, and sags, dropping bonelessly back into her seat. "Pikachu isn't mad. He tried to talk Ash out of it."

"Out of what?" Brock asks.

Misty looks away, refusing to meet Brock's eyes. "He…" She takes a deep breath and blows it out. "He asked me to marry him." She whispers.

"What?" Brock shouts.

Misty nods and pushes her food around on her plate. There's another loud yell and the lights flicker once more, before finally just staying off.

"I didn't even know you two were…" Brock starts, trailing off as he searches for a word.

"We're not." Misty shrugs. "At least not really...we've been hanging out a lot. You know, when he's actually in Kanto."

"For how long?"

Misty shrugs again, "How long has it been since we were all traveling together?"

Brock's mouth drops open. "Misty, that's...congratulations!"

"I didn't exactly say yes…"

"Oh," Brock says.

Misty bites her lip, "yeah."

"So...When?" Brock asks.

"Two...three weeks ago."

Brock blinks and closes his eyes, counting backwards in his head. "When he first got back?"

Misty nods her eyes tracking something in the back of the room.

Brock turns around and finds Pikachu walking back in. He seems tired, with his tail down and ears drooping. Slowly, he bounds onto the table, and turns to Brock with wide eyes. Brock pops open the ketchup and hands it to Pikachu.

PIkachu grabs it from him and walks over to Misty, knicking against her open hand with a sad _pikaa_.

"I know, buddy." She says. "You tried."

"So….how?" Brock asks.

Pikachu offers him an annoyed _kachu_.

Misty nods. "Pikachu was asleep and we were at Delia's."

"And you said no?" Brock leads.

Misty shakes her head, "No...I just didn't say yes either."

Pikachu looks at Brock and he's sure he sees the electric rodent roll his eyes with a sarcastic _chuu_.

"It might as well have been a no." Ash calls from the back of the room. He walks in, quietly, and sits beside Misty. Pikachu walks over to him and jumps to his shoulder, ketchup still firmly clenched between his hands.

"Ash, what would our life even be like? I'm still at the gym and you're in a new region every few years."

Pikachu agrees, nodding his head so that Ash can feel it. Groaning he picks PIkachu from his shoulder and places him on the table between them.

"I know you both think it's a bad idea, but I just don't understand why. It could work. We would make it work."

Pikachu shakes his head as Misty sighs. "No we couldn't."

"Misty, I promise you. I would always come back."

Pikachu sighs and smacks his face with his tail.

"What, like you promised to return my bike?"

Ash drops his head to the table mumbling into the surface. Pikachu pats him lightly with his arm.

"What was that?" Misty asks.

He lifts his head, "I'll get you a new bike. One day. I promise."

"Of course," Misty starts, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Pikachu looks up from consoling Ash, a dark _kaa_ underscoring the electricity that arcs through his fur.

"OK." Misty stops and takes a deep breath. "You'll replace my bike someday."

Ash nods sadly while Pikachu grins.

"Then maybe, if you do that. Maybe, we can talk about this again."

"Really?" Ash asks, eyes locked on Misty's.

"Really." Misty says, smiling.

Pikachu _kaa_ 's triumphantly and, when Ash and Misty look away to start gathering up the remains of breakfast, holds a fist out to Brock who shakes his head and bumps it.


	7. Midnight Conversations

A/n: And we're clear

 **Midnight Conversations**

* * *

Ash groans in frustration and rolls over, trying for the hundredth time in as many seconds to fall asleep. He can't even finish his roll, he get's halfway to his side and his arm hits Max who mumbles something about wanting five more minutes. Ash bites back a scream and rolls to the other side only to hit Brock mid snore. He can't take it. It's too stuffy in the tent, filled as it is with stale air. And it's hot, the thin fabric of it's walls is no match for the combined heat of all three boys. And then there's the noise. He's surrounded with Brock's snores on one side and Max's mumbled equations on the other.

Ash falls back on his pillow and closes his eyes, stuffing his arms to his side, and tries to count mareep. But it's no use. It's too crowded. Though, that's not really a surprise. The tents aren't made to hold three people. Usually Max and May would share one tent and he and Brock shared the other. But with Misty visiting, Brock had insisted that the girls share one tent and the boys the other. Which was a great idea, Ash had thought. But now, sharing the tent with Brock and Max, he's packed tighter than magikarp. He can only move his arms and even that is a struggle.

He needs out. Wiggling like a kakuna, he frees his arms and unzips his legs. Instantly, he's ten degrees cooler and he considers staying in the tent now that he's free. Then Brock snores again and Max switches from equations to pokémon stats and Ash scrambles over them. For a few moments he fumbles in the dark, until finally he's able to grab the zipper and pull.

Nothing happens.

The zipper is stuck.

Ash smacks his face with his hand and then breathes out. He will not give up because of a stuck zipper. Mustering all of his strength, Ash gives one final tug on the zipper and is completely unprepared when it gives way and he tumbles out of the tent onto frozen ground.

"Smooth, Ketchum." Misty greets him, she's sitting in front of their fire circle on one of the logs that they'd pulled over when they set up camp. There's a small fire in front of her and she has a charred stick in her hand. She must have restarted the fire when she woke up.

Ash blinks slowly, trying to force the darkness from the edge of his vision. Sitting upright, he rubs his head and offers a suave "bwamph," in response.

Misty stands from the fire and walks over to him, leaning over so that all he can see are her eyes. "Are you OK?"

Ash nods slowly and stops, the world spinning when he moves.

"Seriously, Ash." Misty kneels in front of him and holds up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Thirty," Ash says, grinning.

Misty's eyes narrow worriedly but she searches his face for a moment and then smacks his shoulder. "You never were good at counting." She shivers and hauls herself to her feet, offering a hand down. "Need a hand?"

Ash leans back and throws a hand up. Misty grins and jerks him to his feet. He falters for a moment, arms out trying to catch his footing, before Misty slips under his arm and steadies him.

"Are you sure we don't need to wake Brock?" Misty asks.

But Ash shakes his head. He's fine, just a little dizzy, but both of them know what concussions look and feel like. And this isn't a concussion. Probably. "No," he answers, shivering.

"OK," Misty replies, heading them towards the fire, "let's go sit at the fire though. It's cold."

Ash doesn't argue and after a few stumbling steps, they drop to the logs in front of the fire. They're quiet for a few moments, content to sit beside one another in the almost too warm glow of the fire.

"So," Ash says, quiet enough that his voice is almost lost in the dull crackle of the flames. "What's a girl like you doing up at a time like this?"

Misty leans back so that she can look at him, eyebrow raised in an expression Ash knows almost as well as any of his own. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard," she asks in mock concern, "because you are starting to sound an awful lot like Brock."

Ash knocks his shoulder into hers, grinning. "I'm fine, Mist. Don't worry. But why are you up?"

"Why are you?" Misty bumps his shoulder back and settlers against him, leaning so that the line of her body is pressed against him.

Ash shrugs, the movement of his body carrying Misty with him as well. "Couldn't sleep."

"Me either...those tents are just so…"

"Stuffy?" Ash offers.

Misty nods.

"May usually shares with Max, but I think it's a one person tent."

"Oh," Misty twists her head to glare down at a damp spot on her shoulder, "I'm sure it's a one person tent."

"Eww," Ash groans, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Misty swats at him, "Stop moving."

"You don't have to lean on me, Mist. There's plenty of space." he gestures that she's not leaning against, a sweeping motion of his taking in the other logs around the fire.

Misty shifts so she can look at him and shakes her head. "But you're warm,"she whines, leaning back against him.

"Mist," Ash sighs. "We're in front of a fire. How can you be cold."

"I didn't say I was cold, I said you were warm."

"Oh," Ash replies, uncertain what to say from there. He puts his arm around Misty, steadying her and together they listen to the fire crackling and Brock snoring. It's quiet and familiar and for a moment, Ash can almost believe that they're in Kanto again, too excited to sleep because of the adventure the morning will bring.

It's a moment broken by Misty sniffling.

"Mist?" Ash asks.

"I'm fine," she whispers, reaching and arm up to run at her face. She takes a deep, broken breath and rocks forward to stand up.

Ash catches her hand. "You don't sound fine."

"I said," Misty starts, voice rising with each letter. She stops at a frustrated _kaa_ from the tents. For a few moments, she's silent and then she swallows. "I said," she starts again, voice quieter. "I was fine."

"And I don't believe you." Ash hisses back, tugging back down to sit beside him on the log. "What's the matter."

Misty rubs her eyes again and sinks down so that her back is against the log and her knees are pulled to her chest. "Togepi's gone." She whispers into the fire quietly enough that Ash has to strain to hear her.

"Togepi's not gone, Mist. Just evolved."

Misty sighs. "Evolved and staying the Mirage Kingdom."

Ash slips down so that his back is against the log and he's beside Misty once more. "Yeah," he says, "but all of the togepi in the kingdom will be protected."

"Which is important," Misty breathes, "really important. But I wasn't ready to say goodbye."

Ash reaches out and puts his arm around Misty, pulling her into his side for a hug. "Goodbye is a terrible word."

"It really is." Misty leans into the hug, putting her head on Ash's shoulder. "We should stop using it."

"Yeah," Ash replies. Misty moves with the word and he hair tickles his nose. He smoothes it back with one hand and she hums appreciatively. It's a sound Ash finds he likes and so he pushes her hair back once more.

"Ow."

"Ow?"

"It hurt."

"It hurt?"

"What, is there an echo?"

"An ech... " Misty smacks him before he can finish and coughs, loudly. From the tents Pikachu offers a long suffering _pikaa_ and both Ash and Misty hold their breaths until they hear Pikachu fall back to his sleeping bag with a small thump.

"So those goodbyes?" Misty asks.

"We should forget that word. It's a terrible word."

"How would you ever leave anybody again?"

"I wouldn't, everyone would stay forever." Ash declares quietly.

Misty shakes her head. "What about your mom?"

"Well," Ash groans. "Maybe we can say goodbye to some things and people."

"Right," Misty agrees. Then she sighs. "You know I have to leave tomorrow, right?"

"Why?"

"I have to go home, take care of the gym."

"Can't Daisy watch the gym?"

In answer, Misty pulls out her PokeNav and presses play on one of the voicemails. In a tinny voice, Daisy asks Misty if it would be alright if she and Violet and Lily just handed out badges and let trainers come back later to fight because none of them want to ruin their manicures.

"Ok," Ash assents, "I guess you can't just leave the gym to your sisters."

"Nope," Misty replies, returning the PokeNav to whatever pocket she'd gotten it from.

"But don't you want to?"

Misty huffs out a sigh. "It's not that simple, Ash." She sits forward and twists so that she can look at him. "I'd love to stay with you..and Brock. And travel."

Ash grins, a full toothy smile that fills his face. "Then stay."

"I can't" Misty whines, exasperated. "And even if I could, I'm not sure that I would."

"What do you mean?" Ash asks, the smile dropping from his face.

"I mean…... I mean the gym is a way to get noticed by the League...type mastery is different than being a pokémon master. It's up to the League and not random battles."

"I don't fight random battles."

Misty throws her head back and groans. "That's not what I meant. I just...the gym is where I need to be right now."

Ash smiles. "So you need to leave to do something important?"

"Yes," Misty says, and then smiles. "You slowpoke." She leans into him, and he he tightens his arm around her.


End file.
